Skip to content

95 Simone Andersson – social value from circular e-waste solutions

Circular Economy Podcast 95 - Simone Andersson - social value from circular e-waste solutions

Catherine Weetman talks to Simone Andersson, Chief Commercial Officer at WEEE Centre, a Kenyan social enterprise that’s been expanding safe e-waste management and circular solutions across East Africa, since 2012.

Simone’s background is in communication and sustainability action around waste and water management, and before joining the WEEE Centre she was at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), where she led innovative developmental projects on resource efficiency, circular economy systems, traceability, precious materials and various solid and liquid wastes.

Her mission is to create awareness about the possibilities and prosperity of Green Business and Clean Tech.

The WEEE Centre focuses on people, planet and prosperity, in particular by helping young people improve their social and economic circumstances. It’s aiming to expand the collection infrastructure to cover all Kenyan Counties and to increase local recycling by bringing more advanced technologies. It also wants to reach other African countries, starting with neighboring Uganda and Tanzania.

By 2019, the WEEE Centre had recycled more than 10,000tons of e-waste, serving over 8,000 clients across Africa, and creating hundreds of jobs. It became the first and only e-waste management organization to be ISO certified with multiple awards. WEEE Centre has the capacity to recycle all types of e-waste, and has trained many other African countries on safe e-waste recycling.

We’ll hear about the operational complexities, some of the collaborations and partnerships they’ve fostered to overcome the challenges of being a relatively small enterprise, and how they’re trying to make sure they create value-adding circular flows, rather than focusing on recycling.

Podcast host Catherine Weetman is a circular economy business advisor, workshop facilitator, speaker and writer.  Her award-winning book: A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business includes lots of practical examples and tips on getting started.  Catherine founded Rethink Global in 2013, to help businesses use circular, sustainable approaches to build a better business (and a better world).

Stay in touch for free insights and updates… 

Read on for a summary of the podcast and links to the people, organisations and other resources we mention.

 Don’t forget, you can subscribe to the podcast series on iTunes, Google Podcasts, PlayerFM, Spotify, TuneIn, or search for “circular economy” in your favourite podcast app.  Stay in touch to get free insights and updates, direct to your inbox…

You can also use our interactive, searchable podcast index to find episodes by sector, by region or by circular strategy. Plus, there is now a regular Circular Economy Podcast newsletter, so you get the latest episode show notes, links and transcript delivered to your inbox on Sunday morning, each fortnight. The newsletter includes a link to the episode page on our website, with an audio player. You can subscribe by clicking this link to update your preferences.

Links we mention in the episode:

  • A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business – buy from any good bookseller, or direct from the publisher Kogan Page, which ships worldwide (free shipping to UK and US) and you can use discount code CIRCL20 to get 20% off. It’s available in paperback, ebook and Kindle. If you buy it from online sources, make sure you choose the new edition with an orange cover!
  • Sign up to get the podcast player and shownotes for each new episode emailed to your inbox

 

WEEE Centre

 

Circular Innovation Hub, CIH

About Simone Andersson

Simone Andersson is the Chief Commercial Officer at WEEE Centre, a Kenyan social enterprise, expanding safe e-waste management and circular solutions across East Africa, since 2012. With a BSc in Environment and Health from Umeå University, Sweden, she has +19 years’ experience of communication and sustainability action around waste and water management. Previously, at RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden), she led innovative developmental projects on resource efficiency, circular economy systems, traceability, precious materials and various solid and liquid waste in society.

Her mission is to push development of society positively forward by creating awareness about the possibilities and prosperity that lays in Green Business and Clean Tech. She takes pride in being an enabler and communicator – creating awareness, finding constructive collaborations and inspiring to action for holistic structures.

About WEEE Centre & the Circular Innovation Hub

WEEE Centre is a social enterprise with a mission to provide a green and safe environment through a circular vision for e-waste management – design and policy dialogues, collection, reuse and material recovery of electrical and electronic waste. In 2012, it sprung out of the NGO Computers For Schools Kenya, after some years of creating a take-back scheme from beneficiary Learning Institutions. The company is now ISO-certified for 9001 (quality) and 14001 (environment) and runs environment friendly operations with focus on people, planet and prosperity through involvement of youth to improve their social and economic circumstances. The aim is to expand the collection infrastructure to cover all Kenyan Counties and to increase the local recycling by bringing more advanced technologies and also open entities in other African countries, starting with neighboring Uganda and Tanzania.

To tackle issues regarding the lack of start-up and innovation support, as well and insufficient research and development infrastructure related to the Circular Economy in Kenya, WEEE Centre founded the Circular Innovation Hub (CIH) in September 2021. It highlights and supports solutions to Circular Economy problems through innovation, training, awareness creation and research & development. The CIH seeks to be the one-stop-shop where businesses, academia, entrepreneurs, authorities and investors can tackle common problems and find joint opportunities in the emerging Green/Clean Tech Industry.

Interview Transcript

Click here to open the transcript…

Want to find out more about the circular economy?

If you’d like to learn more about the circular economy and how it could help your business, why not listen to Episode 1, or read our guide: What is the Circular Economy

To go deeper, you could buy Catherine’s book, A Circular Economy Handbook: How to Build a More Resilient, Competitive and Sustainable Business. This comprehensive guide uses a bottom-up, practical approach, and includes hundreds of real examples from around the world, to help you really ‘get’ the circular economy.  Even better, you’ll be inspired with ideas to make your own business more competitive, resilient and sustainable. 

Please let us know what you think of the podcast – and we’d love it if you could leave us a review on iTunes, or wherever you find your podcasts.  Or send us an email

Podcast music

Thanks to Belinda O’Hooley and Heidi Tidow, otherwise known as the brilliant, inventive and generous folk duo, O’Hooley & Tidow for allowing me to use the instrumentals from the live version of Summat’s Brewin’ as music for the podcast. You can find the whole track (inspired by the Copper Family song “Oh Good Ale”) on their album, also called Summat’s Brewin’.  Or, follow them on Twitter.

158 Steve Wilson of Compostify

#158 Steve Wilson of Compostify

Compostify makes truly home-compostable plant pots and other bioplastic solutions designed to nourish the earth. Its products naturally break down without leaving harmful residues, and Compostify says this packaging enriches the planet, rather than polluting it. Steve Wilson is the Co-founder and CEO of Compostify, with a background in scaling technology businesses. Steve is applying his expertise in innovation, partnerships,…
157 Liz Bui Yulex

157 Liz Bui of Yulex: safer, sustainable materials

Liz Bui takes us behind the scenes at Yulex, a material science company that’s replacing extremely useful, but problematic petroleum-based products with natural rubber alternatives. Liz Bui is Chief Executive Officer at YULEX, based in the USA. She began her career in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry where she spent 20 years in senior roles. On top of managing all…
156 Marcus Feldthus Post-Growth Guide

156 Marcus Feldthus: the Post-Growth Guide

We zoom out to the economy part of the circular economy, to talk about the Post Growth concept, with Marcus Feldthus. Together with Oscar Haumann, Marcus founded the Post Growth Guide back in 2023, as a learning space for people who want to understand the social and planetary boundaries so as to make real sustainability strategies, avoiding greenwashing, going beyond…
155 Martin Tomitsch Steve Baty life-centred design

155 Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty: Life-centred design

Martin Tomitsch and Steve Baty have written a brilliant book called Designing Tomorrow: strategic design tactics to change your practice, organization and planetary impact, published earlier this year. Martin Tomitsch is a Professor and Head of the Transdisciplinary School at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). As a design academic and educator, Martin advocates for the transformative power of design…
154 Loic Le Fouest of Clarasys

154 Loic Le Fouest of Clarasys: designing circular customer experiences

Loic Le Fouest is a leading expert in Customer Experience (CX) with a strong track record of driving customer-centric transformation across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors. As the head of the CX practice at Clarasys in the UK, Loic helps organisations design customer experiences that drive loyalty, innovation, and sustainable business growth. Clarasys describes itself as The Experience Consultancy…

Leave a Reply